The U.S. Environmental Protection agency Region 3 recently awarded a $1.5 million grant to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to support the state's Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Control Program and finance implementation of high-priority watershed restoration projects.

The funding also will help finance treatment of streams polluted by acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mines, according to the EPA. The agency also awarded DEP a $45,000 grant "to determine statistically valid compliance rates for municipalities from combined sewer overflows (CSOs)," according to a press statement.

The noncompliance rate for CSOs is high, and the "assessment will provide valuable information on the current compliance rate of CSO communities and may lead to appropriate enforcement actions if necessary," the statement said.